triathlon #2 - done!

Triathlon #2 is under my proverbial belt!

It was harder than the first one, which surprised me. I think I got a little too "well, I've done it before I can do it again" maybe? Not sure.

The starting line for the swim was farther away from the steps than last time, which is OK ... but we had only 5 minutes to get from the steps to the starting line. I got there in time, but I was a little tired from getting there and would have liked a minute or two just to chill. No such luck.

The horn went off and off we went. I had some trouble in general, partially because I was tired ("go slow, stop kicking, go slow, it's not a race, well, it is a race but that's ok") and partially because the shoulder injury has kept me out of the pool for the majority of the past five weeks. I felt it this morning.

There was a little more contact with other swimmers this morning than in the other race, which wasn't bad — nothing painful or anything — just kind of annoying.

My goggles were fine this time (thank goodness!) and I was able to swim less off-course, which was good. I need to learn how to swim in a straight line. Spotting (looking up for a landmark) every few strokes is tiring.

There were quite a few people hanging on to the buoys for rest, and a kayaker had to come out and help one woman who took a mighty mouthful of water. I was glad just to keep moving, slow as that might have been.

So I got out of the water — hooray! — and started to run to transition and checked my heart rate monitor. 190. Shit. OK, so I walked to my bike. [The cardiologist-approved exercising heart rate is 165. It's OK to go higher at the end, for the last minute or two, but for sustained exercise, I should stay around 165. No, this is not normal.]

Got changed, hopped on my bike, and started to ride. And I learned that my fabulous mountain bike, my trusty steed, does not ride like a spin bike (on which I've done all of my training). Hm. I guess that stands to reason, since spin bikes are made to simulate road racing. And so for the first time, I am considering buying a road bike. Not one of the fancy tri-bikes that whizzed past me many times, but one that will be a little more race-friendly.

The bike ride was OK, except that I was monitoring my heart rate and couldn't go nearly as fast as I wanted to (or as my legs could go).

At this event, there was a sprint tri, which is what I did (750m swim, 20K bike, 5K run) and an Olympic, which is twice the sprint. The Olympic swim waves started after the sprint.

Now, I am fully aware that I am not a fast swimmer, and I had a little trouble swimming today. However, an Olympic racer passed me on the way out of transition, and quite a few more passed me within the first quarter to half mile of the bike ride. So these guys started swimming at least 10 minutes later than I did, swam twice as far, and got to biking at about the same time. I was impressed.

Now, because I was heart rate monitoring (well, I think that's why), when I got off my bike, I didn't feel like I was going to keel over, and I was able to jog the first mile of the run! I walked up and over the bridge and jogged part of the way back, until, inexplicably, I hit 190 again and slowed to a walk. It didn't come back down below 170 at all after that, but I decided that the last half mile needed to be not walked.

My goal was to do this race in two hours, but I didn't hit that. The official times aren't posted yet, but I'll post them once I have them.

Regardless of not meeting my time goal, it was a good race, and I learned from it. I am thinking about doing maybe one more this season. There is one locally on Thanksgiving morning that I was considering, but I'm now thinking that it might be a wee chilly for my pansy body to swim early in the morning. Not sure. There are sprint races in the valley every weekend from now until then, so I have options. We'll see.

***

Also, I am likely going to delete this blog in another couple of weeks. Not much going on here — it's kind of just taking up space...

36 hours!

Going to bike tonight, maybe swim a bit tomorrow (though a rest day would be fine) and sit in the steam room, race on Sunday!

I am excited and nervous. Bike check-in is tomorrow.

And away we go! Unless something significant happens, the next post will be the post-race celebratory post!

good news!

I went to the pool today and was able to swim!!! My shoulder was slightly tweaky — not quite right all the time, but not off all the time, either — and I was able to swim my full distance. *whew*

Even going slow and taking care of my shoulder, I'm swimming 100m in about 3 minutes, which is much faster than I was a week before the first tri. I am hopeful to meet my 2-hour goal this time. Between my swimming getting faster, spending a lot of time spinning, working on form in all three disciplines, this bike ride being 1.4 miles shorter, and learning more about how to effectively use my heart rate monitor, I think I can take 16 minutes off my time.

I'd like to get in to swim two more times this week, just to re-acclimate to the water. It's been a long time since I swam more than a couple hundred meters.

So I have Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. The plan is to spin and run Monday (tomorrow), swim Tuesday, swim Thursday, spin and run Friday, rest on Saturday.

Woo-hoo!!!

one week til race #2!

I saw the physical therapist on Monday and Wednesday mornings this week. My shoulder is still unhappy. I'm hoping another visit or two will clear up this dumb shoulder thing.


As planned, I trained with my trainer on Monday. As to avoid aggravating the shoulder, we did all lower body/core.

Tuesday, I went to spin.

Wednesday was a built-in rest day. It would have been a rest day anyway, as my legs were not happily functional.

Thursday, I was still sore just walking, so I didn't exercise again.

Friday, I went to spin.

Today, I am planning to spend some time on the stepper, the treadmill, and maybe the rower. Tomorrow, I am going to attempt swimming again. If I can't swim freestyle, I'll use a kickboard. Either way, tomorrow's workout is in the pool.

This week upcoming ... not sure ... Lots of cardio. Other than that, who knows?

two weeks til race #2!!

I'm on the downhill until the next race. According to advice I got from a very seasoned triathlete, this is what I should be doing:

No weight lifting for the last 10 days before a race (the muscle doesn't grow fast enough, I think)
The week before the race, taper time spent, but don't reduce speed

The 10-day mark is Wednesday.

This is the thing, though, and I didn't mention this to him: I don't lift weights explicitly to help me race. And I don't spend a lot of time running or swimming.

So this is what I'm thinking.

Today I'm going to do some more interval work on the treadmill and then see if I can swim. My shoulder is still a little sore, which by this point is just plain pissing me off. I have an appointment with the physical therapist tomorrow.

Tomorrow I'm training — my last session with my trainer before he moves across the country. *sniff*

Tuesday I'll spin.

Wednesdays from now through April are built-in rest days. I have a meeting after school and rehearsal early in the evening. I barely have time to eat dinner. I thought about getting up early on Wednesdays and going for a swim before work, and then I decided that rest days are good and mine will just always be on Wednesday.

Thursday I might spin again.

Friday, treadmill and light lifting.

If my shoulder feels better, there will be some swimming in there.

Saturday, a cardio mix, I think, including some stairs and rowing. I'd like to get up super-early and go to the gym, just to sort of let my body know what it's in for. The race starts at 6:30. My wave won't be first, but I'll need to be there and have my transition area set up by 6, I'm sure, which is earlier than I wake up for work. Ugh.

We'll see how it goes... Despite losing my trainer and this shoulder setback, I'm excited about this race!!

week of 9-6

Another didn't-go-as-planned week, but it's OK.

Monday I lifted but didn't train for a long set of reasons that I needn't type out.

Tuesday spin.

Wednesday, my husband had surgery, so it was a hospital day.

Thursday was also a no-exercise day.

Friday: interval training on the treadmill.

Saturday I had a great session lifting :)

Yesterday I tried swimming, but my shoulder is still tweaky. If my race was today, I would be able to swim it (I think), but my shoulder wouldn't be so excited about it and would not be happy tomorrow. But it's usable. So I did just 600 m, 50m freestyle and 150 with the kick board three times. It was OK.

Today I'm planning to bang out some nifty 50s.

Tomorrow I'm planning to call the physical therapist who I went to in the spring and see if he can't work some wonders on my shoulder.

Plan for the week? Currently up in the air. But I'm very tired and pretty cranky, so it's not a great day to plan the week's activities. I'm sure something will get done...

Race is three weeks from yesterday!